Baby Boy!
Shmuel and Shterny Teichman (Crown Heights)

Boruch Dayan Hoemes: Mrs. Chaya Landa, 94, OBM
With sadness we inform you of the passing of Mrs. Chaya Landa OBM, a resident of Boro Park and more recently of Crown Heights who survived the holocaust. She was 94 years old. The Levaya will take place today, times added.

Laws and Customs: Asara B’Teves
Rabbi Shmuel Lesches, Maggid Shiur in Yeshiva Gedola of Melbourne, Australia, has compiled a guide to the laws of Asara B’Teves for the benefit of the wider Lubavitch community.
Baby Girl!
Sholom and Leah (nee Katz) Laine (Crown Heights)

Challah Bake for Crown Heights Women
Living Chassidus, an organization for women in Crown Heights, is hosting a Challah Bake Thursday night, December 28. Every woman who joins will walk out inspired and uplifted, with two loaves of Challah, ready for Shabbos.

Sholom Mordechai Gives Back
Like wildfire, news spread from one to the other, one community to the other, one network to the other. Rubashkin is out. Yidden all over were shocked, elated, inspired and touched when Rabbi Sholom Mordechai was released from Otisville. Not many believed that this moment will actually happen.

Bitterly Cold Weather to Remain for a Week
The New York City Emergency Management Department today urged New Yorkers to prepare for bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills through the rest of the week. According to the National Weather Service forecast, temperatures will stay below freezing this week with an average forecast temperature of 19 degrees for the next seven days.

Video: Benny’s Journey from Postville to Stardom
The first time Benny Friedman ever sang publicly was at the age of 13 in Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin‘s backyard in Postville, Iowa, at a Lag B’Omer picnic for the entire Jewish community in 1998. At the end of the clip you can see Sholom Mordechai waving to the camera.

Subway Encounter Brings Hollywood Star Full Circle
In the above photo, Boonya Laskey, a Lubavitcher Young Woman, can be seen giving a Menorah to Hollywood Star Liev Schreiber amid a chance encounter on the New York City Subway during Chanukah. But this is only half the story. Many years ago, Schreiber himself was a student of Boonya’s father, Rabbi Aryeh Laskey, who arranged for him to have an Aliyah with the Rebbe in 770 for his Bar Mitzvah! Read this phenomenal story in the extended article!

‘Do It for Little Yehuda Leib’
In a heartfelt open letter to the community, Rabbi Avraham and Shayna Granat, Shluchim to Coral Springs, FL, express a unique request on behalf of their special son, Yehuda Leib, who passed away this morning – shortly after the letter was written – at 13 days old.

West Coast Camp Concludes Eight Amazing Days
The Tzeirei HaShluchim West Coast Winter Boys Camp, in partnership with Merkos 302’s MyShliach, has concluded an amazing eight, fun-packed days of chayus, chassidishkeit and excitement!
Baby Boy!
Yossi and Chaya (nee Hirsch) Lebovic (Crown Heights)

Fire Displaces Families as Temps Fall Below Freezing
A fire broke out this morning in the basement of an apartment building on Eastern Parkway, forcing the evacuation of multiple families as temperatures plunged below freezing in New York City.

Video: Where Do We Find Strength to Deal with Exile?
Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida, delivers his insights on this week’s Parsha — Vayechi. This week Rabbi Minkowicz answers the question: Where do we find strength to deal with exile?

Video: Setting the Record Straight
Rabbi Naftali Silberberg tells a truly inspirational story about Harav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, OBM, a leader of Torah Jewry, who passed away before Chanukah.

Boruch Dayan Hoemes: R’ Avrohom Cohen, 64, OBM
Rabbi Avrohom Cohen, who served Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and established the first Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Beersheva, Israel, passed away on Dec. 21. He was 64 years old.

Rabbis Acquitted of Telling Soldiers to Disobey
After a three-year legal battle, an Israeli judge acquitted two rabbis, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo and Rabbi Shabtai Weintraub, who were indicted for encouraging soldiers to disobey orders to evacuate settlements in 2009 and 2011. ‘Freedom of speech has a special constitutional status,’ the judge said in his ruling.